When I was a kid, in the 1950’s, Christmas was the way my family compensated for the disaster we were living through.  It was almost worth it but left me memories of how my family when in trouble, tried hard to make those few days seem perfect.  My family lived suspended between feast and famine and when there was feast, it was wonderful.  One such Christmas my father bought me a Lionel 0 Gauge Santa Fe 3 part engine for $65 when our rent was $25.  It was a treasure.

 

On the recent 23rd December, a gift arrived that topped it by a very wide margin, 3 brown boxes each weighting 18 pounds.  What could it be?:  the collected records of the Waverly Auction Company, 1978 to 2004.

 

The Lionel trains arrived in a single box, the Waverly Auctions in three, holding 179 auctions, 147 of them priced, altogether 100,992 lots.  Hallelujah!  For a person who loves the history of the printed word, Waverly’s records tracing the explosion of interest in collectible paper at auction in the pre-Internet period, providing a unique perspective on how the market was adjusting.  They will soon be added to Rare Book Hub’s Transactions+.

 

We expect to start January 1^st and expect to complete them by the end of February.  Along the way, Waverly’s records will show up in the Advanced Search.